I farm: “270ac of high, dry limestone ground and run 350 head of cattle in Four Mile House.”

Family: “I farm with my wife Lisa and children Seán and Ciara.”

Cattle: “I run 350 head of cattle in the summer. I’ve 150 beef cattle. I rear 60 dairy-calf to beef Angus crosses, the rest I buy in as runners or stores, usually Angus or Hereford. I contract-rear dairy heifers for a guy in Wexford and take in 100 dairy calves as well.”

Sheep: “I’ve 200 breeding ewes. They’re Suffolks crossed with a Charollais or Texel ram. We started lambing 50 ewes the other day. We split it into three, we’ll lamb in February and in late March again so that we have a run of different lamb sizes. We need eight lambs a week for the shop and I buy in about 100 stores as well.”

Barley: “I’ve 25ac of winter barley and that’s predominately feed for the cattle.”

This week: “I keep 400 free-range Bronze turkeys. They’re being killed this week. I’m at it since we started the farm, selling direct to customers. We move them all through the shop.”

Shop: “Bar one load of cattle every year, all produce goes through our shop in Roscommon town, Castlemaine Farm Shop. Lisa manages the shop and I manage the meat and ingredients. We also deliver online and have next day delivery.”

Future: “The contract-rearing suits me, I bought land five or six years ago and it’s paying for that. I’ve a few upgrades to make to allow for less manual labour.”